ALIEU KOSIAH: “I am a founding member of Ulimo,” an emotional Kosiah told the court under grilling by lawyers for the victims who brought the case. Kosiah told the three-judge panel presiding over the case that Ulimo was formed out of late President Samuel K. Doe’s Armed Forces of Liberia. Victims lawyers’ had requested the court postpone the trial to a later date when the victims and witnesses could be present in the court. Additionally, the judging panel rejected the plaintiff’s lawyer’s request to expand Kosiah’s crimes to crimes against humanity in addition to war crimes. The case before a three-judge panel at the Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona is a first for Switzerland under a 2011 law allowing prosecution for war crimes committed anywhere.

Source: Front Page Africa December 05, 2020 02:26 UTC